Available Formats
Hardback
Published: 12th December 2023
Paperback
Published: 11th July 2023
Paperback
Published: 13th August 2024
Remember, Mr Sharma: A BBC2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick
By (Author) A. P. Firdaus
Hodder & Stoughton
Sceptre
13th August 2024
23rd May 2024
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Coming of age
Magical realism
823.92
Paperback
384
Width 128mm, Height 196mm, Spine 30mm
268g
'Charming and endearing . . . a moving story about the past and the shadow it forever leaves on the present'
Huma Qureshi, author of Things We Do Not Tell the People We LoveDelhi, 1997: It is India's fiftieth year of independence, the year of Hindu nationalists and atomic bombs. But twelve-year-old Adi has a bigger problem: his Ma has gone missing - again. Left with an ailing grandmother, a raging father and no answers, he finds an unlikely ally: a talking vulture who reveals itself to be a bureaucrat from the Department of Historical Adjustment. The Department holds Adi's family files, which will take him on a journey through time and memory, through fifty years of India's history, uncovering the darkest secrets of his Ma's past. But first, he must unlock them by facing his greatest fears.As bright and hopeful as it is devastating, Remember, Mr Sharma explores the ways in which we view the past, its inescapable hold over us and the stories we tell to set ourselves free.Charming and endearing . . . There's a lyricism to A.P. Firdaus's writing, and I admire how he blends a touch of lightness with the book's heavier exploration of partition, loss and family tragedy to create a moving story about the past and the shadow it forever leaves on the present -- Huma Qureshi, author of Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love
Sublime. A wonderful book that employs playful and magical elements in order to explore the past's hold over the present. A fantastic debut from a promising new literary voice. -- Nick Bradley, author of Four Seasons in Japan
A. P. Firdaus grew up in northern India and has worked as a writer for over a decade, in Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore and London. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. He currently lives in Berlin.